Page 7 of Huntress Unleashed

She smiled. She didn’t think he would be agreeable, but she figured she would just toss that out there.

“I have another suggestion.”

She was sure she wouldn’t like it. She didn’t share kills and bounties with other hunters, if that’s what Dane was going to propose. Not even with her ex-fiancé. Neither of them worked well together on hunts. They’d tried it twice, but he had preferred hunting with his own brothers instead. He felt his brothers were stronger and faster than her, so they made a better team.

“Okay, how about we go together and take down the vampires who have the most hunters after them? Then we can both get credit, share the money, and go after the next one at twice the pace.”

She didn’t want to work with him, since she didn’t know his style of fighting or hunting. What if he and she couldn’t work in sync like her ex claimed he and she couldn’t? What if they lost the rogue because they were getting in each other’s way? Worse, what if either of them ended up getting killed because of it?

“Uh, you don’t like the idea. We could try it on this one assignment and see how it goes. I don’t want to mention it, but we both were hunting alone when we were turned, right?”

She didn’t want to be reminded of that. And she really didn’t want to try this with him. She could see him being just like her ex and then she would really be angry about it. “Did you ever hunt with your fiancée?”

“Yeah, but it didn’t work out.”

“What makes you think working with me would?”

“We both have new abilities we’re not totally used to, which is the reason I was a bit…well, scratched up before I ended up at the meeting. I mean, really, what could go wrong?”

“One of us or both of us could end up dead?”

* * *

What was the likely chance that Dane would have all the same rogue vampires on his termination list that Jacqueline had except for the one? He was glad he had touched base with her. He really wanted to try working with the huntress so they could at least share in the take downs and maybe even protect each other. He was certainly willing to give it a try. But he didn’t believe Jacqueline was going to be receptive to the idea no matter what he said. Still, he figured he would try to prove to her that he wasn’t out to get all her hard-earned bounties.

“Well, think on it. In the meantime, I’ll take care of Mabon, and you eliminate whoever you’re targeting next. We can revisit this talk when it comes to the other names, if you would like.” He really felt it would be a way of trying to reach the rogues before the other hunters could do it.

“Did you know the hunter who took down the rogue before you arrived on the one case?”

He was surprised she was still talking to him and hadn’t already shut him down. “Olson.”

“Van Olson?” She sounded more than surprised.

“Yeah, I take it you know him.”

“I don’t understand why they’re doing this. I mean, assigning so many hunters to eliminate the same rogues.”

“I know. It’s something new they’re doing so I was really surprised too and more than a little annoyed,” he said. “They could have at least told us.”

“I agree.” She was quiet for a moment. “Oh, and yeah, I know Van. He’s my ex-fiancé.”

Dane didn’t really know what to say to that. He suspected from her comment that she probably wasn’t on the best of terms with him.

“Okay,” she finally said.

Dane hesitated to respond, then he said, “Okay?” Had she wanted to take down her rogue and he would go after Mabon, and they would consider working together on a different mission?

“I’m after Axel. Meet me at…” Again, she paused.

“We could go together,” he suggested. “That way we would be more of a unified force, arrive together, and take him on at the same time.”

“You didn’t work well with your ex, you said,” she reminded him.

“Wendy canceled on me three times when I was about to go on a mission. And the one time she went with me, she held back and never really did any fighting. I was more worried about protecting her at that point and knew she was more of a hindrance than an asset. What about you? Did you ever hunt with your ex?”

Lengthy pause. Jacqueline cleared her throat. “Yeah. He preferred to hunt with his brothers. So, I mean it might not make any difference if we work together. We might not be suited to do it.”

“We’ll do great. If you want, I can pick you up at your place. I think it would be safer to be together, and after we take him down, we’ll go after Mabon.”

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